Examining the relationship between ethnocentrism, perspective-taking and cultural competence in medical-surgical nurses

This descriptive correlational study explored the relationships between cultural competence, ethnocentrism, and perspective-taking in practicing medical-surgical nurses living in the United States (US). Participants (N=111) were recruited from the New Jersey Board of Nursing (NJBON) and from the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN). The survey consisted of three validated instruments a) the cultural competence assessment instrument (CCA-I); b) the generalized ethnocentrism scale (GENE); c) the perspective-taking (PT) subscale of the interpersonal reactivity index (IRI), and d) demographic profile questions. Data were collected via Qualtrics and analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 28/29). Ethnocentrism and perspective-taking explained 30.2% of the variance in cultural competence F (2, 108) = 23.33, p< .001). Perspective-taking was the strongest predictor to explaining cultural competence (β = -.423, p < .001); ethnocentrism was the weaker predictor to explaining cultural competence (β = .236, p = .007). The research sub-questions were answered from the bivariate correlational analyses: 1) the relationship between ethnocentrism and cultural competence showed a positive statistically significant relationship ( r= .378, p < .001); 2) the relationship between perspective-taking and cultural competence showed an inverse statistically significant relationship ( r=- .502, p < .001); and 3) the relationship between ethnocentrism and perspective-taking showed an statistically significant inverse relationship ( r= -.335; p < .001). Overall, participants were culturally aware with relatively low levels of ethnocentrism and high levels of perspective-taking.